Sunday, February 24, 2013

Coming later this week I have some more trade posts, including packages from David at Can't Have Too Many Cards and Douglas from Sports Cards from the Dollar Store. Those will have to come later though, because it's Sunday, and you know what that means here at Shoebox Legends. This week's Signature Sundays post features my very first Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox autograph!

This beauty is from last year's Allen & Ginter set. It's my fourth Red Sox A & G auto overall, but my first from the 2012 set. I really like the darker border that was utilized for this past year's autograph cards. Adrian doesn't exactly have the most exciting signature, but at least it's large and bold, I've certainly seen much worse.

This one takes me to 46 unique Gonzalez cards and counting. I paid $29 and change for this card, plus shipping, when I picked it up this past September. That's definitely more than I'd typically shell out for an auto (20% of my card budget for an entire month), but in this case I just had to have the card. I'm glad I sprung for it too, because they aren't exactly that common. In fact, searching eBay and COMC right now I can't locate another one at any price.

Of all the Gonzalez autos out there, this is certainly a great way to start. Now I just need to find a 2011 A&G Gonzalez auto to pair with this one...

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Another brutal week, please be patient if you're awaiting a card package or return email from me. I'm about out of steam, but I didn't want to go post-free for the entire work week, so I figured this would be the perfect chance for an image-heavy post showing off some COMC purchases. Here's a good chunk of cards I picked up on the site over the last few months and haven't had a chance to post...

I can't seem to resist the 2011 Topps Cognac Retired Stars parallels, especially when I can manage to find them for around a buck or less. This Reggie Jackson is one of the nicest I've seen yet, just a beautiful card. The retro A's uniform is perfect for a cognac parallel.

I grabbed a couple of these from the same seller by making a package-deal offer, and this Fisk was what got the ball rolling. This card had been on the Most Wanted List in my sidebar for quite some time, happy to erase it.

Closing out the trio is another Athletic, Rickey Henderson.

These next few Diamond Anniversary parallels were actually won quite a few months back now, and got me a good chunk closer to completing the Red Sox team set...

These were much cooler when they were still novel, before there were 70 different shades of them in every Topps release...

The Topps Lineage set never really grew on me, but I thought the inserts were well done so I did try to grab all of the Red Sox at least. I already had the Adrian Gonzalez 3-D insert, so Carl Crawford was the only other one I wanted.

I snagged these three stickers from the same seller on the cheap...

The last of the Lineage, a trio of Stand-Up inserts. Two Hall-of-Famers and one guy who seems like he could maybe get old as a teammate after a while.

This Mako Shark from the 2008 Allen & Ginter World's Deadliest Sharks insert set puts me at four out of five now. I'm now missing only the elusive Tiger Shark, card #2, to knock this set off. It's been added to my Most Wanted list in the sidebar...

This 2010 Nolan Ryan insert was on my Most Wanted list as well, an interesting 1957 Topps tribute. I've only shipped 4 or 5 orders ever from COMC and I think every one of them has included at least one Nolan Ryan card.

Last but not least, here's a hockey card. I swear my purchases weren't all baseball. I'll post some of the hockey goodies soon, but I had this one scanned already so here you go. I know I've said this probably 50 times but the early Ultra insert sets were junk wax perfection as far as I'm concerned. I've wanted a copy of this Brodeur for nearly two decades now, nice to finally land one. I really do enjoy shopping on COMC!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

This week's Signature Sundays post is once again brought to you by 2012-13 Panini Classics Signatures. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I love that this set gave me my very first crack at on-card autos of quite a few of my favorite Hartford Whalers. Today's post features my fourth Whaler autograph from the set, Dave Tippett:

A great image of Dave exactly how I remember him, in obnoxious green, sporting a serious 'stache and the assistant's 'A' on his sweater. I'll grant you that he doesn't have the world's most exciting signature, but I welcomed the chance to add a Tippett auto to my collection at last. While Dave may not have been one of the league's best left wingers during his playing days, he clearly has a great hockey mind and has gone on to become much more successful as a head coach. He was behind the bench in Dallas for a number of years, and has done very well in a tough market in his current position in Phoenix (even winning the Jack Adams award for coach of the year a couple of seasons ago).

Like the first three Whalers autos I've acquired from this set, this one barely made a dent in my monthly card budget, clocking in at just $2.99 plus $3 shipping (which covered this card and another one I'll show at a later date). With secondary market prices like that, I'd welcome a Panini Classics Signatures set every year...

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Last Sunday was a hockey autograph, so this week I'll switch back to baseball. This week's card is my second Clay Buchholz auto, from 2008 Allen & Ginter:

I truly stole this card, with a winning bid of $2.56 (plus $1.95 shipping). Clay joins Mike Lowell and Wily Mo Pena to make 3 Allen & Ginter Red Sox autographs now in my collection. He's the only one of the three who'll be on this year's roster, and he's one of the many question marks for the 2013 Red Sox. If the Red Sox are to get even a whiff of post-season play there are many things that need to break just right, and Clay remaining healthy and making at least 25+ starts is one of them.

Sweetening the pot was the fact that this auction also included a copy of Clay's flagship Topps rookie card:

This has always been one of my favorites from the 2008 set. A great shot of the Fenway scoreboard behind Clay, and the color scheme and design of the set really work well with this photo. These two are the 33rd and 34th Buchholz cards in my collection.

After I won the auction, the seller contacted me to let me know that he included another bonus card in the package that he thought I'd appreciate.

He certainly hit the nail on the head with this vintage beauty, from the 1960 Fleer set. This is my first card of the long-time player/manager/owner, who is enshrined in Cooperstown. Next Sunday we'll be back to some hockey...

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Yesterday's post was the final portion of my dime box haul from a recent card show in Mansfield, MA. Today's post represents the rest of my pick-ups from that show. I only spent money at two tables, the dime box guy's table and another table that was all Red Sox baseball. Here's what $12 at that Red Sox table netted me...

This card may not look like much but I was excited to find it in a five for a dollar bin. It's just my second 2001 Topps Heritage Red Sox card, and it just so happened to come into my possession just a few days after my first. This is going to be one tough team set to complete...

This one's from the 1986 Donruss Highlights set. Not the most attractive design if we're being honest, but it's nice to have cardboard representation of Doerr's HOF induction in my shoebox.

These next four came from a 12-card insert set that I've never seen before...

...telling the story of the 1986 World Series.

From the four cards I picked out you'd almost think Boston won the thing.

But as we all know, that was a very painful off-season in New England. Luckily I had turned just four years old a few weeks before the collapse, so I was much too young to be a baseball fan (although I would experience my first game at Fenway the following season).

There were five of these Collector's Choice Silver Signature parallels in the five-for-a-dollar bin, I figured the one-per-pack parallels were worth an even $1.

Another fantastic card of Andre Dawson. The Hawk has some true cardboard classics, and this is a fine example.

Finally, speedster Otis Nixon. I remember taking my fair share of at bats as Otis while playing Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball on my Super Nintendo back in the day. I snagged a few new Mo Vaughns from the five-for-a-dollar box as well...

Two pretty similar cards from 1995. The UC3 set was one I liked a lot at the time. I'd love to bust a box someday if I could find one on the cheap.

I also grabbed a Collector's Choice card of Mo signing for some fans...

...and one of those odd CyberStats cards that tries to project what would have happened had the strike not occurred.

I ran across a few oddball cards that I just had to grab from the same bin...

Unlicensed cards of Mike Greenwell...

...and Ellis Burks, from the 1989 JJ Nissen set. These would fall into the category of "appeals to team or player collectors only" in my estimation.

This one's a bit better, from the 1987 M & M's Star Lineup set. Still no logo, but the design is much better than the JJ Nissen cards, and who doesn't appreciate an M & M wearing a baseball cap?

This was one I hadn't seen before, it's a hand-cut card from a 1986 Topps wax box. This one was definitely cut with a steady hand, and I like the Red used on the top of the card. I ponied up a full $1 for this puppy.

Of course I couldn't leave without some vintage. This was one of my better finds of the day for just a dollar. I love the old manager cards from the flagship sets of the '50s and '60s. This Mike Higgins is in decent condition too, certainly binder-worthy.

Speaking of which, here's a card I've been chasing for a good long time, probably the best vintage Red Sox manager card out there (alongside the '64 Topps Pesky). Examples in NM+ condition regularly go for a bit more than I'm comfortable for, but this is an acceptable placeholder for now that cost me less than $2. Sure it's off-center and suffers from a crease and some paper loss, but it works for now.

Here's the back, which is actually in better shape than the front...

Somewhat high on my list for my Red Sox collection is knocking off the 1956 Topps team set. There's a pesky Ted Williams that could make that difficult, but I did manage to add two more from this gentleman's table:

Johnny Schmitz has a left-side crease but good overall visual appeal. I absolutely love this set, and although 1953 is tops for me, I can certainly see why many collectors rank it their favorite of the decade.

Great backs too. If the day comes where by some miracle I actually do knock off the '53 Topps set, I think this one would be next on my list...

Finally, my favorite overall card of the day, 1956 Topps Ike DeLock. I've learned a bit about Ike over the past year or so after acquiring a couple of recent on-card autos, so I knew I had to have this one. A great stadium shot in the background too.

So, that does it for my Mansfield card show haul, except for a few cards that were purchased to send out to other bloggers. I'd pay $12 for those 23 Red Sox cards any day...